Hi out there.
Last time I reinstalled (Panther 3.9 on iMac G4) I created two partitions (one 100 G for my system and one 60 G, so i would have one to back up my ibook onto.) Then I did nothing for a few months, and now got back to the backing up-issue. It turns out, that I chose "free space" as format for the backup-partition, instead of OS-journaled. Can I change the format on this partition without risking to affect my system-partition?
The simple answer is no. There are some programs available which could get the job done, possibly. There aren't any which I'd call "safe" though. When you open up your partition tables and start playing with things, there's room for serious damage.
PLEASE back up before you do anything. Here are your options:
1. Reformat whole drive, backing up your data to an external drive, or your iBook.
2. Mess around with your HD using iPartition or a similar product. Backing up to an external drive or your iBook.
Perosnally, I'd go with option 1. I've destroyed drives on PCs using partition magic. These may be isolated incidences related to my iNsanity, but if this were safe the option would have been built into Disk Utility.
Yes you can.. As long as there's nothing on there. If there is, you need to copy the data off to another partition.
Just open Disk Utility, select that partition, click the Erase tab, and select the format that you need (Mac OS Extended (Journaled)), click the erase button.
This will erase/reformat ONLY the selected partition.
I think you need to re-read the original post. He's not asking to get back the partition, only to reformat the "back up" partition to something usable.
